2021/22 Rafael Benitez

[Stephenlloyd]

I hope our lot hurry up and get a grip then , sometimes things take time so hopefully the penny will drop .

That’s why I think he target a CB in the summer. And one that probably has played the system and has got the brains to understand it.

 

[Harryflashman]

That’s why I think he target a CB in the summer. And one that probably has played the system and has got the brains to understand it.

So you think it’ll take until the summer until they get it ? I’m not sure we or the manager have that long given how we’re coping with set pieces .

 

[ForeverBlue92]

So you think it’ll take until the summer until they get it ? I’m not sure we or the manager have that long given how we’re coping with set pieces .

The club will be under no pressure to sack him though - for all the hysteria we are still 10th.

Until we are bottom 3 and cut adrift he is safe and there are way more worse sides than us when we have a near fully fit side out.

Its teething problems this season which the fans have to just accept.

Get DCL, Doucoure and Mina back, win 1-2 games and we move on. Make no mistake we'll be finishing 9th-12th as we just aint good enough without proper recruitment.

We all knew this end of last season we wouldn't be much better had Carlo stayed had he only been given £1.7m to spend.

 

[Thomasc]

Just listened to Simon Jordan’s assessment of the situation and he absolutely nails it.

 

[Marius57]

The club will be under no pressure to sack him though - for all the hysteria we are still 10th.

Until we are bottom 3 and cut adrift he is safe and there are way more worse sides than us when we have a near fully fit side out.

Its teething problems this season which the fans have to just accept.

Get DCL, Doucoure and Mina back, win 1-2 games and we move on. Make no mistake we'll be finishing 9th-12th as we just aint good enough without proper recruitment.

We all knew this end of last season we wouldn't be much better had Carlo stayed had he only been given £1.7m to spend.

So what happens 'if' he loses to spurs, then city, then brentford? Do you still back him going into the Derby? If, God forbid, that happens, how toxic do you think that game will be? With RS fans chanting his name with their rafatollah on display.

Yes that's a worst case scenario right now, but not inconceivable with the way we are playing. That would also give us 6 losses on the row prior to the Derby which is our longest losing streak in the PL.

He has to show he is flexible in his approach, and quickly. It's not his fault we had no money, granted, its not his fault he has a few important players missing. But it is his fault he is sticking with this zonal marking that is punishing us massively right now when even with important injuries last season, we were still able to defend. The subs are on him. Yes, he brought delph on which worked, but waited until we were 2 down with them also having a goal marginally offside and everyone could see it needed done at that point. His subs on the whole have been poor.

He has his players arguing with each other because they dont understand what he wants. That's also on him. As if they don't understand it, don't use it in a game.

 

[Ghost Rider]

So what happens 'if' he loses to spurs, then city, then brentford? Do you still back him going into the Derby? If, God forbid, that happens, how toxic do you think that game will be? With RS fans chanting his name with their rafatollah on display.

Yes that's a worst case scenario right now, but not inconceivable with the way we are playing. That would also give us 6 losses on the row prior to the Derby which is our longest losing streak in the PL.

He has to show he is flexible in his approach, and quickly. It's not his fault we had no money, granted, its not his fault he has a few important players missing. But it is his fault he is sticking with this zonal marking that is punishing us massively right now when even with important injuries last season, we were still able to defend.

We will get a point at the weekend and possibly beat Brentford in that time. Richy being back is a huge difference in terms of scoring goals for us.

As for the Derby, we could be top of the league by some margin and they would still chant his name. Easiest wind up opportunity in history. Agent Rafael and all of that.

It's going to be a bad couple of months for us but all we can hope for is a few players through the door in January 1st to at least give us some sort of lift.

 

[Marius57]

We will get a point at the weekend and possibly beat Brentford in that time. Richy being back is a huge difference in terms of scoring goals for us.

As for the Derby, we could be top of the league by some margin and they would still chant his name. Easiest wind up opportunity in history. Agent Rafael and all of that.

It's going to be a bad couple of months for us but all we can hope for is a few players through the door in January 1st to at least give us some sort of lift.

I hope you are right. But not sure how you can be so certain about it.

If we were top of the league, they would not be chanting his name in the same way at all. That's a ridiculous suggestion. Why would that wind us up if he had us heading for the title. If anything, it would be the other way. As they would be crushed, one of their legends was doing for us what he couldn't do for them.

 

[Legend78]

If Poch gets canned by PSG - which is somewhat likely - we have to get him

What has Poch ever won besides a league in France which even big Sam would win with a team like PSG, if he can’t win the champions league this season with a team including Neymar... Messi and Mbappe that will put into perspective how good he really is.

 

[ForeverBlue92]

So what happens 'if' he loses to spurs, then city, then brentford? Do you still back him going into the Derby? If, God forbid, that happens, how toxic do you think that game will be? With RS fans chanting his name with their rafatollah on display.

Yes that's a worst case scenario right now, but not inconceivable with the way we are playing. That would also give us 6 losses on the row prior to the Derby which is our longest losing streak in the PL.

He has to show he is flexible in his approach, and quickly. It's not his fault we had no money, granted, its not his fault he has a few important players missing. But it is his fault he is sticking with this zonal marking that is punishing us massively right now when even with important injuries last season, we were still able to defend. The subs are on him. Yes, he brought delph on which worked, but waited until we were 2 down with them also having a goal marginally offside and everyone could see it needed done at that point. His subs on the whole have been poor.

He has his players arguing with each other because they dont understand what he wants. That's also on him. As if they don't understand it, don't use it in a game.

People can talk about the ground being toxic - means nothing when Usmanov is on his Yacht in the Baltic and Moshiri is at his home in Monaco.

Utd fans invaded Old Trafford and got a big game with Liverpool postponed to try force the Glazers to sell up - they are still here.

Newcastle fans tried getting Ashley out the door for over a decade and he only sold because his pocket took a big hit in the pandemic.

You overstate fan power massively - now if the players down tools and we slide into the bottom 3 then yes the owners will need to act but fans can boo all they want whilst we are sat 12th in the table as the over-riding priority for the owners at present is BMD & getting the wage book / FFP position to a healthy position.

 

[Egil Olsen]

We will get a point at the weekend and possibly beat Brentford in that time. Richy being back is a huge difference in terms of scoring goals for us.

As for the Derby, we could be top of the league by some margin and they would still chant his name. Easiest wind up opportunity in history. Agent Rafael and all of that.

It's going to be a bad couple of months for us but all we can hope for is a few players through the door in January 1st to at least give us some sort of lift.

I agree. I expect it to get worse before it gets better. But I expect the team to be more solid at the end of the season than when we started the season. I think some people need a reality check. Changes take time. We have only played 10 games in the series. Despite the fact that Rafael implements a number of changes, injuries to key players, little depth in the squad, we perform about as expected.

 

[Marius57]

People can talk about the ground being toxic - means nothing when Usmanov is on his Yacht in the Baltic and Moshiri is at his home in Monaco.

Utd fans invaded Old Trafford and got a big game with Liverpool postponed to try force the Glazers to sell up - they are still here.

Newcastle fans tried getting Ashley out the door for over a decade and he only sold because his pocket took a big hit in the pandemic.

You overstate fan power massively - now if the players down tools and we slide into the bottom 3 then yes the owners will need to act but fans can boo all they want whilst we are sat 12th in the table as the over-riding priority for the owners at present is BMD & getting the wage book / FFP position to a healthy position.

But if he has lost 6 on the bounce, 1 win in 10 and we are heading into the Derby, you are still backing him?

 

[ForeverBlue92]

But if he has lost 6 on the bounce, 1 win in 10 and we are heading into the Derby, you are still backing him?

100% because the season is a write off regardless when you acknowledge what calibre of replacement we would be bringing in.

He gets this season for me minimum providing we aint cut adrift in the bottom 3 in which case I fully understand the owners need to get rid.

And let's be honest a scrappy 1-0 win at a moody Goodison on Sunday against a "scab 6" side fans are all happy again talking about how many points will we be taking from our next 6 in the hunt for europe.

Football fans are fickle.

 

[jamieni]

Any other manager and I would wholeheartedly agree, I think you need time to implement your ideas and gain consistency but while he is here it is getting toxic, he just won't get the same leeway as another would. It sucks I agree and like I said, I wish we weren't in this position.

Mind you I'd love to shoot the majority of those players out of a cannon, they let us down time and time again and it's always the manager who pays the price ultimately.

I agree. There are a core of players in this squad who have consistently let down the last few managers with a few notable exceptions. That won’t change with a new manager. It seems to me that the board are constantly trying to find someone who will unlock the potential of the squad when maybe they need to face up to the fact that the squad isn’t good enough for where they apparently want to be.

I don’t have a problem with Benitez as manager, in that he’s no better or worse than many others we might get, but things were always liable to get nasty after some bad results. If he can turn it around a bit before Christmas then fair play to him but a couple more defeats and it will be mayhem.

 

[larbert toffee]

If you're a grown adult getting into a physical fight about the club's manager then you're not really a grown adult.

Fixed it for you Billy, totally agreed with you by the way.

 

[Legend78]

But if he has lost 6 on the bounce, 1 win in 10 and we are heading into the Derby, you are still backing him?

Klopp lost 6 home games on the bounce last season, he should of been sacked then and let’s be honest if he was managing one of the massive clubs like Madrid.. Barca.. United,, Juve.. Chelsea.. Bayern or City he would of been with that record.